John's heart sank as he walked into the classroom for his university lecture.
In front of him were rows of desks, which normally wouldn't be a problem, but instead of ordinary flat top desks, this class was outfitted with individual L-shaped desks that were attached to every chair.
Scanning the rows hopelessly John sighed and sat down in a chair three rows from the front. He would never understand this style of desk. The surface area was too small to keep much material on and left him feeling cramped and awkward. Then there was the bigger problem. Every. Single. One of them were right handed.
John didn't even bother sighing as he took out his notebook and pencil, resigned to the fact that he'd have to awkwardly twist himself in his seat in order to write anything.
Honestly, left handed people make up at least 10% of the population, you could at least have one lefty desk.
Disgruntled John scowled at the classroom. Desks weren't the only problem one faced as a lefty. Even John's notebook was a trial, the spine digging into his palm as he tried to write.
And then there's the impossibility of finding left handed scissors, left handed knives, left handed sports gloves... The list went on and on, even his pencil was technically right handed.
Plus I'll smudge everything unless I'm careful... Not to mention the difficulty of writing legibly on a blackboard without getting chalk all over himself.
And right handed people don't even realize it.
John couldn't count the number of times he had to convince people that no, there was no such thing as ambidextrous scissors, and that flipping them over didn't not change the way the blades were aligned.
And heaven help you if there were more than one lefty in a class. It became a race to see who could grab the left handed equipment first.
Even sitting next to someone right handed was difficult. John could recall many arguments over dinner as he and Harry fought for space and bumped elbows.
Students were filling the room and the professor had just arrived when another student dropped with a huff in the chair next to John.
"I hate these classrooms." John heard the student mutter as he pulled out his notes. Intrigued John perked up and watched as his companion began to write the date at the top of his notes, left handed.
"I see you couldn't find a left handed desk either." John smiled at his desk mate.
The boy looked up and responded "It's the curse all lefties have to bare." He stuck out his hand, "Name's Bill, I'm guessing you're a fellow lefty, am I right?"
Returning the hand shake John nodded. "Yup, nice to meet you, I'm John."
Turning back to his notes John was in much better spirits, he couldn't help being left handed, but at least he had someone to suffer along with.